living A dream: Februrary Is Apple Crumble

Pie A Al Mode

So this month I have been working on my apple crumble. Ive made three apple crumble pies and I think my biggest challenge is perfecting my crust. The overall results thus far was everything from foodgasmic to alright. So here goes, for one pie

Pie Crust

1 1/3 cups flour
1½ tablespoons sugar
¼ pound (one stick, eight tablespoons, ½ cup) butter
1 dash salt
3 tablespoons cold water

When making the pie first you want to sift the flower sugar and salt together. Once sifted, take your butter and cut it into little cubes (make sure its cold). Add the butter cubes to the flour and mix so that the flour and butter form little balls or look like crumble. All I had to do this with was a fork, let me tell you it gets tiring. When that's finished add three tablespoons of cold water. If your dough is still crumbly add about one more tablespoon but that should be enough. Finally roll your dough in a ball and place it in a plastic bag and leave it for a least an hour to whenever your ready to use it. Before adding any filling you need to first bake the pie crust for about 15 to 20 mins.

I was making two pies when I took this, for one pie you would only have one ball

Filling
6 cups thinly sliced apples (about 6 large apples)
3/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

This is step is pretty simple. The hardest part about it is peeling those friggen apples!. It took me what seemed forever and its not the most exciting part of the process. Once you've peeled your apples you should boil them in some water to soften them up. You don't want to leave them in for to long because no one wants to eat apple sauce. Mines probably boiled for about 10 to 15 min. Next drain your apples and season them. Your pie should be finished pre-baking, so feel free to layer your filling in the crust.

Crumble
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter

This last step is real simple. Just mix the flour and brown sugar then you add the butter and like the pie crust you mix until it looks nice and crumbly. Once your satisfied with your crumble top off your pie and get ready to bake.

Your oven needs to be preheated to 375 degrees. First your going to put your pie in covered with foil for the first 20 mins so set your timer, then remove the foil and let it heat for another 20 mins. Now your pie should be ready let it cool then bon appetit.

Trial and Error.
The first time I made this pie I didnt use enough butter in my crumble and it looked like a flat layer of brown sugar that turned out being very crunchy. I used crisco that wasn't cold for my second set of pies and it came out very flaky which is not bad but it was very difficult to roll out the pie crust and lift to place in my pans. I'm still figuring the pie crust out but I'm sure I will be able to give better tips as this challenge goes on. Im looking forward to.